First time in the history of Supreme Court, nine judges have taken oath of office at one go. This is also a historical moment for women’s representation in India. In more than 71 years since Supreme Court came into being, the strength of women judges has been very low. In these 7 decades there have been just 8 lady judges so far. The first lady judge of Supreme Court, M Fathima Beevi was appointed in 1989.
Before the appointment of 3 new lady judges – Justice Hima Kohli, Justice BV Nagarathna and Justice Bela M Trivedi, yesterday, Justice Indira Banerjee was the lone serving woman judge in the apex court since 2018. Justice Nagarathna, is the daughter of former CJI E S Venkataramiah and is in line to become the first woman CJI in 2027.
With administering of oath of office of 9 new judges, the strength of judges in Supreme Court is 33 now. Chief Justice of India N V Ramana administered the oath of office to the new judges. Due to Covid precautions the swearing-in ceremony was held in the auditorium of the Supreme Court’s additional building complex instead of CJI’s court room. The 6 male judges who have been administered oath of office as apex court judges are Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka, Justice Vikram Nath, Justice Jitendra Kumar Maheshwari, Justice C T Ravikumar, Justice M M Sundresh and Justice P S Narasimha.